Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania speaks to local residents during a campaign stop at the Monarch restaurant Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011, in Pella, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Division amid Iowa’s evangelicals is so deep that it’s extremely unlikely they will unite behind one candidate in the two weeks before the caucuses, evangelical leaders agreed Tuesday, after the influential Family Leader organization announced it would not endorse in the race.

That deepens fears among some Christian conservatives that their vote will be fractured among three or more candidates, said Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition.

“It’s maddening,” he said.

In fact, two Christian conservative leaders on Tuesday asked that a couple of candidates drop out of the race.

“Why can’t the top three or so pro-family candidates come together and figure out who has the talents for president, who has the talents for other roles?” said Family Leader activist Chuck Hurley, who endorsed Rick Santorum Tuesday. “And those people could quickly … vault into first place and win the caucuses and win the nomination.”

That’s not bound to happen, either, other Iowa conservatives said.

“Let’s face it — these candidates have spent too much money, too much time, too much energy to decide, ‘I don’t want to do this. I’m going to throw my support to Joe Blow,’” Scheffler said.

None of the candidates has indicated any willingness to drop out of the race.

Most of the evangelical devotion is split between Santorum, Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, the leaders said, while Newt Gingrich and others have gained scattered support.

Vander Plaats called Bachmann on Saturday to ask her to consider merging her campaign with another candidate’s, but didn’t suggest whether he thought she should be president or vice president, Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart said.

Christian conservatives have been been considered a key bloc in building support to win the Iowa caucuses, from Bob Dole in 1988 and 1996 to George W. Bush in 2000 to Mike Huckabee in 2008. In the Des Moines Register’s late November Iowa Poll, 38 percent of likely caucusgoers identified themselves as born again or fundamentalist Christians. An even greater bloc, 46 percent, considered themselves very conservative on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage.

Crafting a unified front among social conservatives has become a bitter fight for those worried that a split vote will hand a win on Jan. 3 to a Republican they consider too moderate: Mitt Romney.

One Iowa activist threatened to “burn (Vander Plaats’) body, drag it through the streets and hang it from a bridge,” if the Family Leader didn’t endorse the Iowan’s candidate, Hurley told reporters at a news conference at an Urbandale hotel.

Vander Plaats asked for fundraising aid

Meanwhile, The Des Moines Register confirmed Tuesday that Vander Plaats had asked for help in raising money to promote the endorsement.

Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley said his campaign made no deal to drum up cash to pay to help promote the endorsement.

“I don’t know about the discussions other campaigns had, but we never agreed to raise a single penny,” Gidley said. “We’re focused on our own campaign, and that’s where our resources will be spent.”

Vander Plaats said he’d like to have the money to do television advertisements to promote his personal endorsement of Santorum, and he urges Santorum backers to contribute money for that purpose.

Questioned about asking for help to raise money, Vander Plaats told the Register in a telephone interview, “That’s part of our ethical responsibility. You can’t say, ‘We endorsed you. Now see you later.’ That’s not going to do a lot in the long run.” Although candidates with more campaign cash could be more viable, that wasn’t a factor the Family Leader considered, he said.

“Our endorsement by the board and through Chuck and me was all on the merits of the candidates, not on the funds the campaigns could do,” Vander Plaats said.

Vander Plaats said he would share with Santorum the voter lists he compiled while working last year to oust Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage.

“I’m going to mobilize whatever resources I have at my disposal to advocate for him,” Vander Plaats said. “I will not tear down another candidate, because we have other good candidates in this race, and if one of those candidates emerges as our nominee, I will get fully behind that candidate.”

Many evangelicals say they’re undecided

Prominent Christian conservative leaders are canceling each other out now, said conservative radio host Steve Deace, a West Des Moines Republican.

“Today was a very good day for Ron Paul, and every good day for Ron Paul is a good day for Mitt Romney, because I think we all know Ron Paul is not going to be the nominee,” Deace said. “The party and liberal media are going to destroy him.”

Several evangelical voters said Tuesday they’re feeling angst over whom to choose.

“I tell you, I really haven’t made my mind up between the three. I just really haven’t,” said Mike Root, a pastor at an Independence church, who is torn between Bachmann, Perry and Santorum.

A Family Leader endorsement probably wouldn’t have swayed him, Root said at a Bachmann event, but he added: “I do respect Vander Plaats because he’s a real man of God and has stood for the Biblical principles that we feel very strongly about.”

Karen Steffen, an anti-abortion activist from Maquoketa, heard Perry speak over the noon hour Tuesday, but she hasn’t decided which candidate she will support. She also is uncertain whether social conservatives will come together.

“I am praying for God’s wisdom on that,” said Steffen, former director of religious education at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. “The more we pray, the more he will give us the wisdom.”

Irene Blom of Pella, the Republican Party’s Marion County chairwoman, cautioned social conservatives against staying home on caucus night.

“People who call themselves Christians have to wake up,” and participate, Blom said after introducing Santorum to about 50 people who came to hear him speak at a Pella restaurant. She remains unaligned with any candidate, she said.

Santorum was munching on a cinnamon roll from Jaarsma Bakery after a campaign stop in Pella when he found out about Vander Plaats’ and Hurley’s endorsements.

“There’s a lot of good people out here running, and I’m sure it was a tough decision. I think it shows that we’re the candidate right now that has the momentum, that has the message that’s resonating to the people of Iowa,” Santorum said.

Santorum has campaigned in Iowa far more days than any other candidate, but his support has remained in single digits in most polls.

Santorum had heard rumors Monday that the Family Leader was going to endorse Perry, whose campaign has more money. Then he’d heard Tuesday morning that the group wasn’t endorsing anybody.

No endorsement would have been better than a Perry endorsement, Santorum said. “Now this is better than nothing — a lot better than nothing,” he said of Vander Plaats’ and Hurley’s personal endorsements.

Bachmann, during a campaign stop in Independence Tuesday morning, said many in the evangelical community are with her, even without the Family Leader’s nod.

“We have over 100 pastors across Iowa who already have come out in support of my candidacy… I am an evangelical. I gave my life to Jesus Christ when I was 16 years old. I am not ashamed of my faith and people recognize in Iowa that I will stand up for religious liberty,” Bachmann told reporters.

The seven-member Family Leader board last month crossed off four candidates from consideration: Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney.

Four remained on the list of possibilities: Perry, Santorum, Bachmann and Newt Gingrich, but board members had been agonizing over how to reach consensus on just one candidate.

Evangelical ministers around Iowa led a loud outcry in protest of an endorsement of the thrice-married Gingrich, whose character they have called into question.

It has been more than four weeks since the Family’s Leader’s Thanksgiving Family Forum on Nov. 22, attended by six GOP candidates.

Vander Plaats flew to Tennessee Thursday to meet with national Christian conservative leaders. Family Leader board members met Friday to hash this over, and again Monday night.

— Tony Leys, Jason Noble and William Petroski contributed to this report.